Ethnographic field essay

Mankato, Minnesota is culturally a long distance from Mexico City, where Jacques and his family have many relatives. Jacques' family emigrated from Mexico City to Minneapolis shortly after he was born. He is the oldest sibling. After interviewing Jacques, I found that he strongly identifies with Mexican culture, despite the fact that he has been fully "Americanized." I have several observations to make later on this subject.

Jacques' brother and sister have never gone on the trip to Mexico City to visit relatives. Jacques has been to Mexico City three times with his parents. I consider that Jacques has a native tie to Mexico City even though he has grown up in the U.S., giving him a unique perspective which his younger brother and sister cannot appreciate. Because Jacques and I both work for the same company at the St. Paul/Minneapolis Airport, I have had a chance to interview him for short periods during breaks, and I always come away with the same impression: Jacques is glad to be living in the U.S., but he feels like he is part of a minority group here.

Jacques is studying to be a teacher, and because of his bilingual

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part of Martinez' book in which a liberal priest named Father Olivares dies, leaving an irreplaceable hole in a church called La Placita, in downtown Los Angeles. The church had previously been a refuge for Salvadoran refugees, the homeless, and various societal fringe-dwellers, but after Olivares' death, the L.A. Police Department came through, dispersed the poor, tore down the altar, and put in place a more politically popular priest--one who wouldn't be "harboring criminals and communist sympathizers." I have included Jacques' description of the book in such detail because it is an excellent argument for multiculturalism. Jacques, too, would be a perfect teacher for the job--he could lead by example. I asked him if his family wanted him to be a teacher. He said that he would be the first one in his family to get a higher education, so he really didn't have to live up to any expectations. He said that his parents were more concerned with the fact that he was still unmarried, working such long hours between work and school, and majoring in education, in that order. I asked Jacques about Catholicism because I thought that possibly the church played an important part in his life. He wore a cross daily. He said that he doe
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1731
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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